Record-breaking 2003 for PS2 games

Sony Computer Entertainment America has today announced that it enjoyed record-breaking software sales in 2003. PlayStation software sales totaled almost 100 million units last year, thanks in part to a more than 24 percent increase in PS2 software sales year-on-year. According to NPD Funworld, PlayStation platform businesses generated almost $5 billion in revenue last year--more than 60 percent of the total gaming industry volume.

NPD Funworld has also reported that PS2 software sales in 2003 amounted to a little under $3 billion or, to put it another way, almost three times that of its closest competitor. With almost 80 million software units sold in 2003, the PS2 software-to-hardware ratio has also now reached an unprecedented 12.4-to-1.

"With record-breaking software sales this year, our partners are yet again realizing the benefits of aligning with the strongest name in the business, backed by the most expansive community with an incurable desire for the best in entertainment," said Jack Tretton, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "In 2004, we will continue to evolve our platforms and will challenge the publishing community to push themselves even further to leverage the incredible power of the PlayStation."

SCEA also claims that its online console community is now the most popular, growing at a rate almost three times as fast as that of Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In North America, there are believed to be around 2.4 million online PS2 consoles, and, according to NPD Funworld, seven of the top-10-selling PS2 titles in December were online-enabled.